To Win a Lightsaber
by Lonigan
Summary: General Grievous and Jedi knight, Sahree, crash land on the frozen planet of Hoosthregard. They must struggle through the treacherous land to reach civilization. That is, if they don't kill each other first.
1. The Hunt

General Grievous had found himself in a tough spot. The day had held promise, as he led an attack on the tiny, Republic planet of Hoosthregard, a traitor to the Separatist cause, and an economy that survived on the building of Republic cruisers and battleships. Hoosthregard had been protected intensely by the forces of the Republic, but battles close to the surrounding systems had spread forces thinly. The strategy was simple; distract the Republic by attacking civilian-filled planets and concentrate on crippling the Republic's space force. It would make assaults and defences more difficult and costly for the enemy.

The natives of Hoosthregard are tall, penguin like beings with long legs and four, feathered arms with claws instead of flippers. They are an intelligent, economic people that humans who held talents in business, engineering and motor mechanics would get along well with. However, they certainly were not the warring type. That's what the legions of clone troopers were stationed on their planet for, or rather, whoever they could spare.

The battle began at night, with Grievous's troops approaching the dark side of the planet. It was not long before they were intercepted however, and a space battle began. Grievous held the advantage at first, holding two more battleships than the enemy's fleet of three for the first hour of the assault. One of the Republic ships finally imploded, while another was on the verge of being crippled.

"We have them," General Grievous triumphed, holding a fist up as if he were clutching an enemy in his hands. But he had spoken too soon, four Republic cruisers emerged from hyperspace at both flanks, surrounding Grievous's fleet. His forces on two planets had ultimately been defeated, and the Republic was able to spare their forces to defend Hoosthregard. They unleashed everything they had on Grievous's ship first. They hit a cannon as it was about to shoot, and it imploded, sending a chain reaction of explosions to the ship's main engine. After the General had recovered from the force of the impact almost knocking him off his feet, he called for the retreat. It was too late for his battleship however. While three other Separatist cruisers began to fly away, Grievous's ship and another already heavily damaged ship were being pulverised. There would be no salvaging of this ship. Everyone began to move to the escape pods, whereas Grievous headed to his personal ship in the cargo bay. It was further away, but it held his body guards and proper supplies on board. He felt the battleship shake with destruction as more explosions erupted in the minor engines of the ship. Grievous managed to start up the ship straight away, and he propelled it out of the cargo bay. Just as he exited however, an explosion at the doors of the cargo bay spun Grievous's ship forward and fried his thrusters.

A Jedi knight on board the Republic ship, a human woman by the name of Sahree Pellanor-Jinn, scanned the battle. Sahree was a petite brunette by the age of 28, and she had medium length hair with a fringe that sat just above her eyes. She made up for her short stature by possessing a stocky physique. She spotted Grievous's ship emerge from the cargo bay just as the explosion happened.

"There!" she pointed, notifying clone commander Tazer, "That is the General's ship."

Commander Tazer looked to where she was looking, "I have a visual. Shall we pursue?"

"Heavens yes! His engines appear to be damaged. Do not let him enter hyperspace, push him back and aim whatever weapons you can spare on him to slow him down," Sahree ordered, "have my ship ready in two minutes! I'm going to get this murderer myself."

"Not without me, General Pellanor-Jinn," Tazer announced. Sahree turned and flashed the clone commander an excited grin.

Grievous had trouble figuring out how to get his ship moving after the blast. His right hand thrusters were completely trashed, so he had to quickly learned how to move using the left ones only. His goal was to get out into open space, for his hyperspace drive was still intact. If things couldn't get worse for him, the Republic aimed one of its blasters on the General's ship. Still trying to figure out how to manoeuvre the ship swiftly it its condition, he took heavy damage from two shots from the Republic cruiser. There was no way he was going to get past them. Instead, he headed towards Hoosthregard. He would navigate around its atmosphere to clear airspace on the other side. His actions did not go unnoticed though. Sahree and four clone ships had exited the ship to capture the General.  
>Grievous noticed them on his behind. His ship's battle droid aimed their lasers on them so he could concentrate on avoiding his attackers. A clone's ship managed to get caught in the crossfire, and blew up. The debris spiralled into another ship, forcing the clone to dodge it into Grievous's fire. The clone's ship was too damaged to continue and was forced to retreat.<p>

They had made it past the last cruiser participating in the battle. Grievous was now flying dangerously close to Hoosthregard's atmosphere. If he flanked left too much, his ship would be powerless against the planet's gravity. The Jedi and her remaining soldiers followed him.

"Careful not to enter the atmosphere boys, we want to stay on his tail," Sahree told the clones. A shot from Grievous's ship forced a clone to move, and he was caught by the atmosphere and began to slow down.

"Sorry ma'am, I'm being pulled in by the gravitational force of Hoosthregard, I'm not going to be able to catch up."

"It's alright, just keep following our position in case the General does the same," Sahree ordered, "it's just you and me now Tazer."

"Yes ma'am, the hunt is afoot!" Tazer said ambitiously.

"Concentrate your fire on his left thrusters. Once we get them we'll slow the bird down," Sahree ordered, "we have approximately six minutes before Grievous enters clear space, so fire like crazy."

"Like crazy? Will do ma'am," Tazer said, and the two of them aimed their fire on Grievous.

Meanwhile in his ship, Grievous felt the pressure begin to weigh on him. There were only two ships behind him, but his ship was nearing the point where entering hyperspace would be suicide. He hoped that his droid would be shooting the ships behind him, forcing them to dodge into the atmosphere. But they had already discovered this tactic with the loss of their third clone ship, and dodged to the right, keeping away from the atmosphere.

Then, something no-one expected happened. A large, metal, piece of space-junk emerged from no-where, and knocked Grievous's ship, destroying what was left of his thrusters and damaged his heat shields. The space-junk flew back to Sahree, and a piece of metal sticking out sliced a chunk of her right wing, and moved onto Tazer's ship, wiping him out completely.

"TAZER!" Sahree called out in despair. But he was gone. Sahree pushed down her sadness for her lost comrade and friend, and directed her focus back on the mission.  
>With Grievous and Sahree now being forced into the atmosphere, it became not a chase, but a battle for survival. Sahree was spiralling, with no wing to keep her steady. Even in her panic, she was able to spot Grievous's ship a hundred meters below her. It was a flaming ball with pieces of metal sticking out, but the brakes had been put on so it was slowing down, but not enough. Sahree concentrated on her ship. Instead of battling against the spin, she steered into it, and then gradually worked to get it under control. By the time she was under control, she had to prepare for a crash landing. She slowed it down to a safe pace, but she knew her ship was going to take heavy damage from the flora on the ground. She buckled herself in and prepared for impact.<p>

Closer to the ground she came, and closer. She saw Grievous's ship crash violently in her proverbial vision, but she ignored it. Then, touchdown. Her ship rocked and took down multiple trees. It began to roll, tossing Sahree's limbs around, and continued to roll for a good two hundred meters before it came to a stand still.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

This is the first actual story I've submitted to this site. I found myself completely obsessed with General Grievous so I've studied his character on-screen. I think I've done a good with capturing his character well, but that's for you to decide. I had originally wanted to use Shaak-Ti for my protagonist, but the I found myself creating a new character as the story progressed. Fear not, even though she is a woman, there will be _no romance_ in this fan fiction. If I did that, I would be going against my first fan fiction, which was me raving about how people live their fan-girl dreams through fan fiction, which is really annoying and crappy to read. Sorry for any bad grammar, spelling mistakes (that doesn't include Australian spelling) or incorrect star-wars referencing, but there should be NONE because I proof read this thing a dozen times.  
>The story is set probably in the early days of the Clone Wars. Whether it takes place in the MASSIVE gaps between appearances in the cartoon series, or before the series itself is for you to decide. I hope you don't find Sahree's character a little too bland, but I tried to give her the same sense of humour Obi-Wan Kenobi possesses in the cartoons. I didn't want to make her special or cool in any way. She is a Jedi knight, loyal to the Republic and her Jedi order, but at the same time struggles with restraint, like a lot of Jedi who fight in the Clone Wars do.<p> 


	2. First Encounters of the Violent Kind

When the dust had settled, Sahree vomited. She was upside down, so she didn't make her situation worse by getting any on her clothes. She wiped her mouth before letting herself down. Her shoes would smell like vomit, but apart from having major bruises from her seatbelt, a few cuts and pulled muscles in her legs, she was fine.

Sahree made her way out of the ship, ducking beneath loose cables and debris. She exited the ship into the snowing, flora covered planet. It was bitterly cold, but she was dressed for the occasion.

Attempting to establish contact, Sahree said into the communicator on her wrist, "This is Sahree, can anyone hear me? Hello?" After receiving no reply, she inspected her communicator to find it was damaged. She sighed, and looked to the night sky to see the smoke from General Grievous's ship. After the impact she saw, it was unlikely any normal person would survive, but perhaps having a cyborg body would've aided his chances for survival. It was up to her now. Sahree was confident she could defeat him in battle, but she was humble enough to know when she needed to run from one too. She would confront and disable the General herself.

Walking was difficult, and painful, but it was something she could endure. The cold numbed her legs a little, easing the pain by a margin. The crash site was only a kilometre from her destroyed ship. She held her lightsaber close just in case the General was headed to her position. She arrived in less than ten minutes, and her mouth parted a little when she saw the state of the ship. It was a burning wreckage of twisted metal. Nothing could have survived that. However, Sahree was a perfectionist, and carefully went to inspect the cockpit to see if she could spot a body. She wasn't sure how exactly she was meant to identify the metal body of the General amongst the burning metal body of the ship, but she made an attempt anyhow. She saw no body, and the pilot's chair wasn't there at all. Sahree figured the General must have ejected just before the crash.  
>She looked around for a sign, and surprisingly, she saw two figures lying two hundred metres up the ship's skid mark. As Sahree moved closer, she saw one figure was the obliterated pilot's chair, and the other was General Grievous, lying unmoving on the ground. Sahree figured he ejected only a moment after he touched the ground. Why he didn't eject earlier was a mystery to her, but figured the eject button must of malfunctioned until the last minute.<p>

Sahree moved towards Grievous. He laid facing away from her, so she wasn't sure if he was awake or not, let alone alive. She drew her lightsaber, glowing brilliant blue. She moved around him, to inspect the General. Grievous's body had dents and marks all over it, but the damage she noticed the most was on his helmet plating. There was a nasty, large crack extending from the General's left eye, all the way to the back of the cranium. There was the deep maroon blood of the Kaleesh pouring from the eye, staining the mouthpiece. More subtly, there was some minor damage to his chest plate, and there appeared to be a small amount of fluid leaking out. Still, Sahree wasn't familiar enough with the General's anatomy to know if he was alive or not. Slowly, she leaned into the General's chest and listened.

She heard a single thud before she felt the General really come back to life beneath her. A hand snatched away her lightsaber, and two powerful legs kicked her up into the air. Sahree landed, winded, but she didn't let her shock stop her from at least keeping an eye on her enemy.

Grievous was still getting up, and appeared to stumble. He swayed his head, and let out a large coughing fit. It was painful just to watch, but Sahree got back up, and tried to retrieve her lightsaber. Grievous did not let his opponent go unnoticed though, and retaliated, by swinging the lightsaber around to defend him while he recovered. Sahree stood back, for the General was just swiping the weapon around like a youngling. He stood up, somewhat still and looked at Sahree. His left eye did not match his right. His left eye's pupil was dilated, and looked lazy. The colour in the eye had been infiltrated with broken red veins, turning the golden eye into an irritated, scarlet orange colour. He tilted his head to the side a little, and somehow his whole body followed through and Grievous was on the ground again. He let out a wail of pain, confusion and frustration.

Sahree relaxed her battle stance a little. "It appears you've suffered a concussion General, and a nasty one at that. Have fun trying to stand up again."

Grievous let out a croaked, "Argh." He coughed and tried to hold himself up, but the more he fought against his dizziness, the more he fell.

Sahree attempted to move forward to retrieve her lightsaber back, but Grievous swung again.

"Back, Jedi," he said slowly, "Back you human… Filth."

"Surrender Grievous," Sahree ordered, "you are clearly too incapacitated to fight back."

Sahree had heard of the General's defiance to the act of surrender, but had never actually seen it herself. He was wallowing in his own bodily fluids, the cold and he looked like he had severe head trauma, and still, he tried to get back up to fight her. It appeared to take a toll on him after a while though, because he finally just put his head back on the ground and lay still, with his eyes watching Sahree the entire time. She watched him back, hoping he would fall unconscious, so she could take back her lightsaber. He closed his eyes a couple of times, but not long enough for Sahree to safely make a move.

As the hours passed, Sahree concentrated on keeping warm throughout the night. Thankfully, no blizzards decided to pass through. She didn't realise it when it happened, but she drifted off to sleep in her meditation stance, and the General watched her the entire time. He tried to get up to kill the Jedi as she slept, but his cyborg body was limited to his mental capacity. He could barely raise his head without it spinning. He gave up, and let sleep take him.

The General awoke when the sun had just begun to spill its light over the horizon. He looked over to the Jedi who was sitting up, with her legs crossed, but asleep. He wasn't concerned about her for the moment. He heard something let out a growl in the distance. The General managed to get himself up onto his knees, but maintained one hand on the ground for balance. It would have been perfect to kill the Jedi right there and then, but his concentration was centred on whatever was stalking them both. The growling suddenly stopped. The General wasn't sure what was going on, and his memories were vague as to how he had gotten there, but he knew he was in danger. He waited until…  
>BAM! Snow exploded from the ground and a white centipede like creature with a beak similar to a bird emerged from the ground and leaped onto Grievous. He managed to divert the creature's force to his left, stopping it from pushing him to the ground. Grievous spun around, but as he did, his eyes blacked out, so he swung his stolen lightsaber wildly. He felt it slice a small wound into the creature, but he couldn't see where. He swung at the air after that and felt himself fall down. The creature was ready to strike again but then, it let out a scream. Sahree had decided to spare the General from death by snow-burrower, and force crushed the life out of the creature. It was a terrible fate, and Sahree wasn't entirely sure if using this power was the Jedi way, but the danger had been eliminated.<p>

Grievous shook his head and stood back up. He hunched over and let what was left of his cape drape him. His head swayed in his dizziness, but he seemed alright when he wasn't doing anything too arduous.

"No-one is coming for us," Sahree said, "They must think we perished in the crash."

Grievous stared at Sahree, not sure if she was going to attack him using the Force or not. She could easily take back her lightsaber, but would not.

"It will take us two days walk to reach civilisation, if my calculations are correct," Sahree said, "And _you_, General, will come with me so I can hand you over to the Republic."

Grievous let out a small laugh, "So, I am your prisoner now, Jedi?"

"Call yourself whatever the hell you want," Sahree retorted, "You are not going to survive a day with your head trauma _and _those things out there."

"Bah!" Grievous scoffed, "Don't get ahead of yourself."

Sahree rolled her eyes, and pushed the General with the force lightly on his head. His entire body followed with him and he fell down onto the ground. When he shook off the dizziness, Grievous glared at the insolent Jedi with a burning hatred that you would have to witness to appreciate. Sahree had proven her point.

"Lead on, General," she mocked, pointing to the east. He got up, letting out a frustrated groan and began to stalk away into the woods, with Sahree a distance behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

Just so you know, I think it's cheesy that I injure the characters I work with. But the great thing with fan fiction is that I don't give a crap. If you're writing for the real world, keep injuries to a minimal. Drama is a difficult to create, but maiming people seems to work out well. The main reason for injuring Grievous was to make sure he couldn't attack Sahree. Grievous needs Sahree to keep him alive, and Sahree needs Grievous because he possesses her lightsaber. They both need to bide their time, for now...


	3. Restraint

The road was long, rocky and cold. Sahree felt safer around the rocks, as it would prevent the snow-burrowers attacking from below. The General did not ask for breaks, but he clearly needed them. He would begin to hold things for support or he would hunch over, letting is head sway. Sahree thought he might collapse a few times, but he pressed on through both his nausea and his trademark coughing. Sahree felt disgusted every time an unusual sound came from the General's respiratory system. In his bad fits, she couldn't help but screw up her face a little. They said nothing to each other, and they both preferred it that way. They could concentrate on the dangers of the woodland, past the sound of Grievous's wheezing of course.

It was midday when Sahree and General Grievous decided to take yet another break. They sat on a rocky area, but it was surrounded by normal snow. Sahree had noticed that the terrain was becoming softer as they pressed further into the east.

The General sat hunched over, trying to keep his chest warm. Sahree stared at his damaged eye, which had appeared to have gotten worse since she had properly looked at it yesterday. The slit that was meant to be his pupil was practically a messy inkblot, and the yellow in his eye had almost been completely dominated by the red broken blood vessels. There was no doubt in Sahree's mind that the General was slowly dying out here, and if they didn't reach shelter soon, she would too.

Perhaps the brain damage had finally gotten to him, but Grievous said slowly, "Why haven't you tried to reclaim… Your lightsaber?" He was a little taken back by hearing his own slurred, slow words, but the question hung in the air.

"You need it more than me, General," Sahree said, a little surprised that he had actually spoken.

The General appeared to cough, but he was actually laughing, "Foolish Jedi."

"If you think I need a lightsaber to defeat you, you are mistaken," said Sahree, "I could squeeze the life out of you right now with sheer will."

"Ah, but… that is not the Jedi way," Grievous mocked, still slow with his speech.

"I think Republic interrogators would get more use out of you alive," Sahree glared.

"Assuming… they catch me…"

"You are confident for a broken droid," Sahree said.

Grievous got angry, "I am not a _droid_." Suddenly his head shot up.

Sahree was beginning to suspect the Kaleesh had better instincts than humans, because it took a couple of seconds before Sahree began to felt a disturbance in the force.

"They are burrowing under the earth," Sahree whispered, "They've only been following from afar… But they're getting more confident."

The General stood up, and continued to walk to the east. Sahree was a bit annoyed that he did not talk about a defensive strategy against them, but she remembered that they were still enemies. So she followed him. She hadn't noticed it before, but the General had begun leaking fluids from his chest, leaving a trail of drips.

"I think you're attracting the local wild life, General," Sahree pointed out. Grievous turned to her, and looked where she was pointing. He allowed the fluids drip onto his hand. He let out a startled sound. Something fell over Grievous's eyes when he looked at the trail behind him. It was only for an instant, but Sahree thought she saw despair. The General swivelled his cape around and stalked forward.

"No more breaks," the General ordered, "We walk until nightfall."

Sahree shrugged, "Lead on, General."

And true to Grievous's word, they did not rest until nightfall. Sahree regretted not insisting that they take breaks, but her pride got the best of her. She didn't want Grievous to think she was weak. Breaks would've benefitted the General too, as he was moving into his own wheezes now, and his coughs became dry and violent. Sahree found herself having to redirect the General when he unintentionally began walking to the north instead. However, he suffered from dizzy spells less often now, and in the rare moments that he spoke, his speech became less slurred.

It was when they reached a shallow stream at sunset that Sahree had stopped, and decided to call it a day. Though he hid it well, the General was relieved. He just wanted to drape his cape over himself to get warm. The cold certainly wasn't a natural place for him.

"We should get a fire going," Sahree said, rubbing her numb hands together. The General moved towards a tree, and took out Sahree's lightsaber. He promptly hacked off a couple of branches and threw them in the clearing where the two planned to spend the night. He sorted them into piles, for the fire now and to feed the flames throughout the night. He then dug the lightsaber into the middle of the fire pile, setting it alight. It was all incredibly quick that Sahree hadn't bothered to help him at all. She was thankful though, and when the flames had come to life, she warmed her hands in its heat.

Grievous sat down opposite to Sahree, letting his cape cover him. He stared at the fire. Sahree checked on his eye. While it was still abnormal, the pupil had begun to shrink back a little, but the colour of his iris was now almost red. She was a little distracted at the fire that danced in his eyes, so she couldn't observe it properly. Her eye then moved down to what she could see of his neck and his chest plate. It fascinated her that there was really a living being under all that metal and robotics. She wished she understood more about the mechanism that was keeping Grievous alive. Her curiosity built even more when she imagined what grotesque face might lay under the mask.

"General, if I may," Sahree began, "Why are you…" She found it difficult to finish. She thought it was stupid to ask, and hoped Grievous would ignore her.

The General glared at her, with that same intense loathing she had seen before, "I have the speed and strength only a machine is capable of. I am… an _improved_ warrior."

Sahree blinked, "With an army of battle droids? Seems hardly fit for a warrior."

"Do not test me, Jedi," the General snarled, "I lead the most powerful droid army in the galaxy. I serve under the most powerful Sith Lords your order has ever encountered. Need I say more?"

"Heavens no," Sahree said as if it were torturous just to hear him talk, "you can explain it all to the Republic interrogators. I have little interest in you talking about trivial things such as power.

Grievous let out an unimpressed grunt, "Of _course_ you care little for power. You can summon it whenever you please."

Sahree didn't know what he meant at first, "You speak of the Force."

"What else?"

"I sense much resentment in you, General," Sahree said, closing her eyes so she could concentrate, "You obviously swing lightsabers around for a deeper reason other than the humiliation of killing Jedi with their own weapon."

Grievous narrowed his eyes, "Jedi scum, think they know everything."

"I didn't hear you disagreeing," Sahree said, raising her tone playfully.

Grievous was about to reply with more insults, but he was weary and decided that the Jedi wasn't worth the effort. He just lowered his head and stared at the fire, exhausted. In the corner of his eye, he saw a steady stream of his fluids trickling out. There was nothing he could do about it, but he knew sleep would at least slow it down. Still gripping Sahree's lightsaber, he rested his head on his chest, and let his mind clear itself.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

This chapter is a filler for the action that is about to follow. I wanted to take a break from the action to explore how Grievous and a Jedi would converse in a more civil way rather than exchanging witty banter during a lightsaber duel. I haven't really introduced any new information about his past. As I have explained at the start in my rave, _Why Fan-Girls Shouldn't Hug General Grievous**, **_I like how the Clone Wars decided to keep the General's past ambiguous. When Grievous talks about being an improved warrior, I refer to George Lucas explaining that Grievous was envious of the Jedi because he wasn't force-sensitive, hence he could never become a Sith Lord. I stick to that origin story more than anything, even though Lucas is a bit of a toss-pot these days.


	4. Death to Two

Nothing disturbed the two throughout the night, for fire was a dangerous concept to both the snow-burrowers and the other vicious creatures of Hoosthregard. When Grievous awoke, the fire was but a small flame. The sunrise had already begun to light the planet around him. The first thing he noticed when he awoke was that he was cold, bitterly cold. The freezing air penetrated his lungs, and he felt like he could barely breathe. Bits of frost clung to his exposed face plate and stung at his eyes.

The second thing he noticed was that Sahree was not in the same place the General had seen her last. He looked ahead to find her about 50 meters away through the trees. She was hunched over, letting out gagging sounds. Grievous watched her fight vomit back for a whole five minutes before she let out a spit to conclude her session. She turned back around to face the campsite. Her eyes had sunk back into her face and they appeared irritated from her eyes watering. She wiped her mouth as she moved.

"Good morning General," she said as optimistically as she could muster, "how are we this fine morning?"

Grievous attempted an inhospitable response, but the most terrible sensation grasped his lungs and instead of talking, he found himself clutching his chest. His organ sack was becoming dehydrated with the loss of fluids, and he felt as if his respiratory system was turning into sandpaper. A groan of pain escaped his throat, but he buried his discomfort and adjusted to the dehydration.

"Yeah, me too," Sahree said half-heartedly, and placed a hand on her lower stomach.

The General eyed her carefully, and decided it was time to continue moving. The more alert Grievous became, the more he breathed and the more his organs groaned in protest. He stood up slowly, to find most of the disorientation from his concussion had left him. What replaced it, however, was a confounding headache from the bruising and blurred vision in his damaged eye. Grievous could feel his face plate was out of place, and it caused him more discomfort. He looked around trying to figure out where the east was, but had trouble finding his bearings on this alien planet.

Swinging his head over to Sahree, Grievous croaked, "Don't just stand there. Which way?"

Sahree took her hand off her stomach, looked up, and then around. She lowered her head to the direction behind Grievous and pointed. He turned instantly and began to storm forward at an alarming pace. Sahree, afraid of losing him, kept up with the General. Grievous did not suffer much from swift movement, as his mechanical parts did most of the work for him. The cold air and his leaking body fluids are what did him in.  
>As for Sahree, she had her whole body to worry about. She was cold, hungry, nauseous and her limbs ached as if she hadn't rested them in days. However, they were all things that she could overcome, at least until she reached civilisation.<br>Sahree looked to the sky, to see there were storm clouds closing in on their destination.  
>"Blast," Sahree breathed.<p>

The General slowed his pace and looked over to her, his voice sounded like it was grinding against itself, "What is it?"

"A blizzard appears to be approaching the east," Sahree told him, "We had better hurry."

Grievous said nothing back and stormed forward. Sahree had to walk swiftly in order to keep up with him. It was good in the sense that the two of them may be able to avoid the storm, and bad in the fact that Sahree would fatigue rapidly. They walked on.

The blizzard had approached sooner than Sahree had anticipated. It hit them in the mid-afternoon hours on the planet with a 29 hour day. It started with the light descent of snow, which was unpleasant to the touch, but bearable. Then the winds began to pick up, and flung cold daggers into both Sahree's and Grievous's faces. They both attempted to shield themselves with their clothing, only to have their only protection against the cold drenched. In addition to their already miserable state, the freezing wind froze the water in the fabrics, making it stiff. Their breath came out in what looked liked explosions of steam, turning the air in front of them white. Neither of them could walk fast at all now, battling against the wind and cold.

After walking in the blizzard for a solid three hours, Grievous began to slow down even further without realising it. Every part of what was left of his organic body was choking him. Barely able to breathe and his brain already suffering extensive damage, he began to see stars in front of his eyes. He tried to keep alert, to tell his legs to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Behind him, Sahree could see Grievous's strength was beginning to fail him. She did not blame him at all, for she had wanted to fall to her knees and sleep for some time now. It was through sheer will power that Sahree pressed on. She could barely feel her limbs and suspected she may have frost-bite in some areas. Survival training told her not to warm these areas up until she could find help, as the pain would prevent her from walking. So she too, just concentrated on putting on foot in front of the other.  
>Then, the blizzard finally took its toll as Grievous fell to his fours, the pain in his insides becoming too much for any creature to bear. He saw many logical reasons to give up. He wouldn't have to face Dooku's wrath for his failed invasion, he would not have to undergo painful repairs to his body or he would not become a prisoner to the Republic. There was simply no point in him battling a losing war against the elements. It was not a warrior's death, but Grievous was defeated nonetheless. He wheezed in the snow, clutching his choking body.<p>

Sahree considered leaving the murderer behind to die, but he possessed her lightsaber, and she certainly was not going to leave without it. She made her way beside him.

"The great General Grievous, defeated by a bit of snow?" Sahree yelled over the howl of the wind, "I must admit, I'm a little disappointed."

"Must you gloat?" Grievous managed through the pain, "Leave. I would rather die alone, than with a Jedi."

"I'm not leaving without my lightsaber."

"Then die here," Grievous spat, his fading eyes glaring into Sahree's own. Swiftly, his head shot up, and Sahree's did too as she felt a disturbance in the Force. It was the snow-burrowers, they were coming.  
>"<em>Please<em>," Sahree begged, "You cannot fight them. If you do not give me back my lightsaber, we will both die!"

Grievous let out a psychotic laugh, which echoed all of his hatred, his anger for dying so pathetically and his disbelief in the Jedi's futile determination. "One last lightsaber for my collection!"

"This isn't just about your life, or even _my_ life!" Sahree screamed at him, her building tears almost freezing in her eyes. Her hand moved to her lower stomach again, the same place as this morning.

Grievous studied her for a second, a let out another laugh, "You are carrying a child? Oh, this is even better than I had expected. Both you and your unborn bastard will die out here. Two Jedi!" He laughed and laughed as his vision began to fade.

"You are _insane_!" Sahree screamed even louder as she heard the creatures begin to growl in the distance.

"Jedi scum, think they are superior. You're a slave to your instincts like everyone else. Power, love, violence," Grievous ranted. As he did so, Sahree tried to retrieve her lightsaber physically, only to be pushed back into the snow by Grievous's foot. "You fight and fight and lose, Jedi. This is why you lose; this is why every last one of you will die by my Master's hand. You pretend to be superior though the Jedi way, but the best of you fail. You are as corrupt as your Republic politicians. You do not deserve power."

Suddenly the growling stopped. Sahree froze in her position, trying to sense where the creature would strike. But with the wind and snow battering against her, and General Grievous laughing at her, it was difficult. Then, it happened.

Snow exploded from behind Sahree, and she was knocked over onto her face by the creature. She turned onto her back, to see the creature was about to strike. Before it did, she used the force to push it off to get some distance between her and the beast. As she did this, another snow-burrower crashed through the ground near General Grievous, knocking him over on his side. Suddenly, his vision returned as adrenaline began to course through him. The creature was on top of him, trying to figure out a soft place for it to puncture its prey. Grievous managed to get his legs under it, and kicked it off. He got up slowly, drawing his stolen lightsaber. The snow-burrower made clicking noises at him, challenging him to a fight to the death. Grievous crouched, holding the lightsaber steady in front of him. No feral creature would be his end.

Sahree was fighting a losing battle against the other snow-burrower. It moved too swiftly for her to give it a decent force crush, and had to redirect its path whenever it charged for her. It was slowly figuring out her strategy, and it charged for her again. As Sahree redirected it using the Force, the creature spun around at the last second, and punctured Sahree's shoulder blade with its sharp beak. She let out a cry of agony, and attempted to turn around so she could fight it. This caused the beak to slice further across her entire back as she turned to look the creature in the eyes. Inches from her, it gave a shriek of vicious delight in her face. Sahree raised a hand to unleash all of her pain and rage with the Force, crushing the creature's insides until they were nothing but putty. It let out a screech and fell dead in less than five seconds. Sahree gave a pant of relief to see her foe fallen. She reached for her back, and touched the warm blood that bled heavily from her deep, long wound. She put her hand back in front of her eyes, to see her entire palm was stained with blood.

Sahree looked over to Grievous, who promptly dug his stolen lightsaber into the creature's head, killing it instantly. His eyes, one golden and the other red, then directed their attention to Sahree. She saw the blood lust and hate only a tortured animal could portray. Understanding his intentions, she tried to react, but instead she fell back. Fallen, she stared at the grey sky, watching the snow whizz past. She wondered about what being joined to the Force would be like. Then, Grievous came into view, blocking the chaos of the sky. He pointed the blue lightsaber towards her face. Sahree understood his resistance to giving up her lightsaber now. General Grievous was waiting to outlast Sahree, waiting for her weakest moment so he could end her without a fight.

"Let me spare you from your shame," he hissed savagely, moving the weapon down to the position where her unborn child grew.

"Coward," Sahree whispered.

General Grievous raised the lightsaber, and thrust it into her lower abdomen. Sahree let out a cry in anguish. Not wanting to leave this world feeling so much hatred, she looked away from Grievous, and through the trees. She saw the lights of somebody's home in the distance. Tears streamed down her cold face, for she had struggled far, to fail so close to sanctuary. She stared at the lights, as the rest of her vision faded to black.

"Tazer…" she called out to the father of her child, and then closed her eyes. Her body relaxed, and she died.

Grievous stared at the dead Jedi for a long time, letting the adrenaline wear off. He looked to where Sahree had been facing to see what she saw before she died. He spotted the lights of a house, and instantly made his way towards it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

Woah! Twist! I love adding a twist just to really reach the highest point you can go in a climax. I added hints in the first chapter that Sahree shared a relationship with the Clone Commander Tazer, so if you go back it's kind of obvious. I didn't want Sahree to grieve too much until this climax, because I wanted her anger and grief to get the best of her and ultimately be her end. I'm kind of reflecting on how the Jedi give up their primitive needs, such as love and sex, in order to keep to the Jedi way. However, as we saw with Anakin Skywalker, repressing such things becomes unhealthy, and they do it regardless. I think it is the stress of hiding their vulnerabilities that leads Jedi to the dark side, when we all know it is healthier to be open about it. I think that is the ultimate flaw in the Jedi order, and it was consequently, their undoing.  
>With Grievous, I just wanted his murderous psychopathy to show. With his death around the corner, he just doesn't give a crap about any of the lives around him, or even his own. All he wants before he overcomes his approaching doom is to take one last Jedi down with him, to take out his rage that he possesses for both the Jedi and for dying. God knows how someone so evil, gets so lucky, and ends up being the one to see hope in the distance.<p> 


	5. Bow to your Master

Grievous was in luck. He had stumbled upon the forest's ranger's cabin. It was shaped like a large dome, and was built with stone to prevent invasion from snow-burrowers. After he killed and discarded of the two Hoosthregardee, penguin-like beings that were stationed inside, he raided their medical supplies. He found a pack of nutritional fluids that would make a decent substitute for his own formulae. Grievous plugged up the cracks in his organ sack before letting the fluids drip into him. He fastened the nutritional pack onto his arm with tape so he did not have to carry it around. As for his head injuries, there wasn't much available to help him with that.

He sat down in a chair made from furs in front of a small fire that was roasting a strange eight-finned fish, letting himself heat up. A lot of the pain the cold had numbed out had returned, and intensified as Grievous sat in front of the heat. After an hour of the fluids dripping back into him, Grievous finally felt his organs begin to rehydrate. Since it was not the formulae made for his organ sack specifically, they made him feel ill, but it was tolerable. His eyes began to droop as he stared at the fire, and without realising it, he fell asleep.

When General Grievous awoke, the aroma of burnt fish penetrated his senses. He looked over to the pack of nutritional fluids that was hooked into him to see it was almost gone, so he got up to replace it. Without warning, intense pain soared into his head, and it surprised him so much that he stumbled over. He found his footing again and supported himself on the bench which held the medical supplies. Grievous let out a gag of sickness and distress. He shut his eyes, trying to overcome the throbbing in his skull. It did not leave him though, so he was forced to work through agony. He felt himself shaking within his mechanical body with effort, but his limbs worked smoothly. Grievous got out a new nutritional pack, and replaced the old one. When he had finished, he looked outside the window to see the blizzard still raged on into the middle of the night. He also spotted a small ship. It was designed only to carry two, but Grievous recognised the design. It was adequate for space travel. Grievous was uncertain whether leaving the cabin would be in the best interest for his health, but he knew he couldn't survive on these nutritional packs, and someone would probably come looking for the Hoosthregardees he had slaughtered. The stress of space travel in such a small craft would not be good for him, but neither would be getting caught by the Republic in his condition.  
>Grievous took the remaining nutritional packs and placed them in a small sack that had sat at the end of a bed. He replaced his tattered cape with a furred blanket to shield his body from the blistering winds. When he got outside, he felt miserable all over again as his lungs were infiltrated by -17°c winds. He moved quickly to the ship, and got in it by spinning his body upwards once he had raised his leg on it. He regretted this as he felt like a hammer had smashed into his skull, but he hurried into the ship. Once he closed the cockpit, Grievous sat silently for a moment, getting to know the unfamiliar controls. He started the engines up, and considered where he should go. He would need to find a place that wasn't far and also possessed the necessary means for his repairs. When he figured his lair was too far away, he grudgingly realised that Dooku's manor was closer. Grievous didn't have much of a choice. He input the co-ordinates into his nav-computer, and began his ascent.<p>

Half a week passed when Sith Lord, Count Dooku, was drumming his fingers on his desk. He was trying to figure out a strategy that would force the enemy to send troops away from a Republic controlled planet. If he could capture this planet, the wealth they could salvage would produce thousands of new battle droids or dozens of battle ships at no expense to both he, and his master. Dooku was having difficulty in deciding what order he should attack the surrounding systems. Some had civilian filled planets, some supplied resources, whereas others were strategic military positions.  
>His thoughts were interrupted as a droid entered his study. It was a small, clean, white robot that talked in a female voice.<p>

"Good afternoon sir," the droid greeted, bowing its head once.

Dooku frowned, and turned his attention away from his studies, "Yes, what is it?"

"Our scanners have detected a ship entering the atmosphere. It is headed our way."

"Were you able to establish contact with the vessel?"

"No sir," the droid said apologetically, "it appears the ship is on auto-pilot. Shall we eliminate it?"

Dooku had considered this course of action initially, suspecting a trap or even a bomb on board the approaching ship. However, his curiosity got the best of him.

"Let it land, but be on guard."

The droid nodded, and headed back out the study. Dooku followed it out.

Dooku, his personal guards and a few battle droids waited at his manor's landing bay, watching the ship in the distance come closer. He eyed it suspiciously, but his feelings told him there was no threat aboard the vessel. He didn't recognise the ship, so he wasn't sure who it was.  
>The ship landed a short moment later, landing as smoothly only as a machine could pilot it. Its engines turned off, and no-one exited the ship. Dooku approached the ship with the battle droids in front.<p>

"Open it," he ordered.

A droid moved forward and pressed a button on the ship. The cockpit popped open, and it slid open to reveal…  
>"General Grievous?" Dooku said, seeing a white mechanical body in the cockpit. However, there was something wrong. The General wasn't moving, and at closer observation, Dooku could see that he was unconscious. There was dried blood smeared on the right side of his face plate, and there was black crust covering the General's left eye. His body had dents and stray blood everywhere. A bit of Grievous's chest plate possessed some sealant for an obvious crack, and dried fluid from his organ sack stained it in places. He had a fur blanket around him, and attached to his arm there was an empty nutritional pack.<p>

To the droid that had opened the cockpit, Dooku asked slowly, "Well, is he alive?"

The droid took out a small device and scanned the General over, "Barely. But he is showing life signs."

Another droid turned to him, "Shall we call a medical droid?"

Dooku wasn't sure if bringing the General back from the brink of death was worth the time or expense. He had failed his invasion on Hoosthregard, and lost the battle. However, Dooku spotted a shimmer of silver in the General's hand. It was a lightsaber, and one that Grievous had not shown him before. It was a new trophy, which meant another fallen Jedi. Perhaps the General was still useful after all. Besides, Dooku had spent many hours training Grievous in the Jedi arts, and it would be such a waste if he let him die.

"Yes, tend to his every need," Dooku said, turning away.

Grievous came to four days later, after being in a critical state. His entire droid body had to be replaced with new parts, his organ sack had been repaired and refilled with his personal formulae, his brain had to be exposed in order to clot internal bleeding and to reduce swelling, and his eye was repaired surgically to help the damaged pupil and broken blood vessels heal. After the doctors had finished, the only remnant of Grievous's escapade was a bandage that was fixed under his helmet, on his damaged eye. He would have the bandage removed in a week or two, depending on how fast it would heal, but he would have full use of it returned.  
>Dooku allowed Grievous to recover in his manor, as returning to his lair by the means of space travel would be too arduous. Dooku didn't pay any mind to his guest at all, as Grievous stayed out of his sight. It was such a large manor that it was hard to run into each other. Grievous was the only person who had a problem with his own presence, feeling ashamed that he had returned to his master in such a pitiful state. Still, he had avoided capture from the Republic and killed a Jedi knight, and that was enough for Dooku to let Grievous live.<br>Grievous spent the days either sleeping or receiving treatment from his doctors. He read over intelligence reports to keep his mind busy, but head-pain limited this to short bursts.  
>He grew more adventurous on the tenth day into his stay. Grievous walked into Dooku's study, expecting to see him there so he could get his reprimanding over and done with. However, Dooku had gone somewhere more private to talk to Separatist politicians and representatives. Grievous took the time to observe the battle strategies Dooku had been planning. The General wasn't even aware that they were even planning to lead another attack yet, but it appeared it had been postponed anyhow. Grievous could tell that Dooku was having trouble deciding what order they should attack the systems surrounding their primary objective. The wheels in the General's head already began turning, especially with the knowledge of the intelligence reports he had read under his belt. Without permission he started to play around with a hologram projector, already beginning to devise battle strategies for hypothetical Separatist troops and guess the defensive tactics of his foes. Grievous felt like he was back in his element, and had the best time in weeks playing with Dooku's expensive holo-projector.<p>

Dooku walked in two hours later, and was taken aback to see that Grievous had violated the security of his study, and had obviously been there for quite some time. Like leaving a destructive puppy home alone, Grievous had reports sprawled over Dooku's desk and he looked like he had been developing holograms for a little while.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dooku asked, insulted that Grievous had violated his workspace with such a mess.

Grievous had not noticed Dooku come in, and his head swung around in surprise. "Count Dooku… My Master, forgive me."

Dooku raised an eyebrow as he approached to overlook what Grievous had been up to. He walked slowly across the reports he had opened, and Grievous even had the nerve to permanently highlight important sections. Dooku suspected his General had no intention of covering up the fact that he had sullied his master's study. The General's apology had only been hollow words, but Dooku decided to see what he had been up to before he would lecture him. A lot of the bits Grievous had highlighted were things that Dooku overlooked in his frustration of not being able to think up proper battle tactics. The Count then looked towards the holo-projector to see Grievous had planned a strategy of attack.

"I see you're as ambitious as ever, General," Dooku said.

Grievous gave a small, but vicious laugh, "No rest for the wicked."

"What have you done here?"

"I could see you were having…" Grievous paused, looking for the right word, "_difficulty_ in planning an appropriate assault for Gedrun. I thought I'd have a look at it."

"A look?" Dooku said, glancing towards the reports sprawled out across his desk.

"I believe I have created an attack strategy that will ensure that your goals are met," Grievous said, "It is not completely perfected, but once I work out the flaws-"

"Perfected?" Dooku cut in, "Did you not use the same words on me before? Did you not say that Hoosthregard will be ours by the end of your assault?"

Grievous had been anticipating this, but he already had an argument prepared, "I asked for more troops to distract the surrounding systems, and you would not give me more. If those useless battle droids had held off the Republic longer, victory would have been ours!" He had not meant to shout at the end, and certainly not at his master, but his ambition and anger was beginning to get the best of him.

"You should learn to adapt to the numbers given to you."

"What of the Jilliad and Throton systems? Their leaders agreed to join us, and yet we still have thousands of battle droids stationed there, standing idle, when both have surrendered to us already!" Grievous yelled, and continued to ramble on about where those troops would be better placed.  
>Dooku did not appreciate his General's defiance at all, and he put a hand up, and held Grievous's oesophagus lightly with the Force, then tightened it. Grievous came to a stand still, and his eyes widened as his air supply began to slowly run out.<p>

"How dare you. You come into my office without permission, and yell at your master about things that have already come to pass," Dooku hissed through gritted teeth. He held on a little longer, waiting for Grievous to reach the point of primitive terror before letting go. Free, Grievous coughed and gagged, clutching at his throat. Grievous made himself shrink a bit, lowering his head and posture as he coughed. It was something Grievous's race did, to assert the dominance of their betters. Dooku understood alien body language enough to know that the General regretted his actions.

"Clearly, you have forgotten your place," Dooku said, "Perhaps you need more time to _recover_."

Grievous looked back up at him, letting his one good eye burn in Dooku's own two. He did not say anything at first, as he had to push down his vast amount of rage before he was able to manage something like an apology. "It will not happen again."

Dooku had affirmed himself as Grievous's master again, and decided that this power struggle was over. He looked over at the holo-projector, interested in what the defiant, but brilliant General had planned.  
>"Well, let's see what you had in mind."<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

I wrote a mini-dialogue exchange between Count Dooku and General Grievous a little while ago, and took great pleasure in it. The two of them are both alpha-males, but Grievous is the one who has to back down, even though he is the more ferocious of the two. I wanted to express how much Grievous would have to struggle to balance his loyalty to his masters and how he has a strong opinion about the effectiveness of his strategies. Grievous has been portrayed as a genius in understanding and creating battle strategies, and I wanted to reflect on that. I think if Grievous was given Clones instead of battle droids, he would be a force to be reckoned with.  
>I also noticed in the cartoons, Dooku holds Grievous in his favour but also is cruel to him. I thought it would be deliciously ironic for Dooku to choke Grievous with the very thing that the mighty General lacks, the Force. Then, Dooku would turn around and respect him as a General again.<p> 


	6. Epilogue

That night, the General found himself running his metal fingers over his newest lightsaber. He remembered every face that coincided with his trophies, and he always remembered how they died. He saw Sahree Pellanor-Jinn look up at him once more, with wisps of bright red blood sinking the white snow. Grievous heard her last word to him as clearly as if she were there again.

_Coward._

The General wondered why she chose to say that, amongst all the other things the Jedi had called him. None of them understood that with every battle, he chose strategy over the reliance of fighting skill. A battle with a Jedi was no different from a star ship battle, tactically speaking. For reasons beyond the General's comprehension, the Jedi considered it dishonourable when battling in a lightsaber duel with a few magnaguards to aide his success, whereas in space if they had more ships than the General's own, they would consider that a just battle. To fight fair in a life or death situation was foolish, and honour was for the weak. There were only losses and wins, and Grievous did not take pleasure in losing. The Jedi could call him whatever they liked, he did not care. General Grievous already had an impressive collection of lightsabers, and had plenty of space for more.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

That's it! That's the end.

This story isn't just about General Grievous and a Jedi surviving in the wilderness. It's about the different opinions characters may hold in the Star Wars universe. On one side, Jedi struggle to suppress their baser instincts, and when they finally embrace it, they perish. On the other, General Grievous justifies his cowardice and loss of honor as means of success.

I hope you have enjoyed reading _To Win a Lightsaber_ as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and feel free to leave a review! I love making my stories better or hearing praise, so don't be shy.

14-02-2012

LoniganTheDragon


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